63-535: Shropshire ( / ˈ ʃ r ɒ p ʃ ər , - ʃ ɪər / ; historically Salop and abbreviated Shrops ) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England, on the border with Wales . It is bordered by Cheshire to the north, the Welsh county of Wrexham to the north and northwest, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the southeast, Herefordshire to the south, and the Welsh county of Powys to
126-466: A companion have been taken to flank an entrance about 6 ft (1.8 m) wide. Aubrey Burl has stated in his 2000 book A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany that "There was a claim for a central stone and a very dubious eighteenth-century report that 'there was a stone across your two Portals, like those at Stonehenge , and that the stone at eighty yards distance
189-545: A height of 1083 ft (330m) o.d. The stone circle, a standing stone, and a cairn comprise a Scheduled Ancient Monument ; the circle is in the guardianship of English Heritage . As with most sites of this type, its true history is unknown. The name of the circle may derive from 'micel' or 'mycel', Old English for 'big', referring to the size of this large circle. Its doleritic stones came from nearby Stapeley Hill . Many of them are now missing and others are fallen. One example, reported in pagan magazine White Dragon ,
252-553: A lieutenant with the wider county from which they had been created. London had instead a commission of lieutenancy , headed by the Lord Mayor . The long-standing practice of appointing lieutenants jointly to the wider county and any counties corporate it contained was formalised by the Militia Act 1882. Apart from the inclusion of the counties corporate, the counties for the purposes of lieutenancy generally corresponded to
315-506: A malicious witch milked the cow, using a sieve until it was drained dry, as a result of which it fled to Warwickshire where it became the Dun cow . As a punishment, the witch was turned into stone and surrounded by other stones to prevent her escaping. What became of the giant is unknown. Burl goes on to state that "An intriguing fact does exist however. Aerial photographs have revealed mediaeval ridge-and-furrow ploughmarks not only running up to
378-412: A new non-metropolitan county is created the 1997 Act is amended to redefine the existing areas of the lieutenancies in terms of the new areas. No such amendment was made in 1997 when Rutland was made a unitary authority or in 1998 when Herefordshire and Worcestershire were re-established; those three therefore have been given their own lieutenants again since the passing of the 1997 Act. The actual areas of
441-498: A remarkable experiment in regional government. It administered the law cheaply and rapidly; it dealt with up to twenty cases a day and George Owen stated that the 'oppressed poor' flocked to it. During the English Civil War , Shropshire was a Royalist stronghold, under the command of Sir Francis Ottley . In the autumn of 1642, Charles I had a temporary capital at Shrewsbury, though he immediately moved to Oxford after
504-661: Is a weathered cubical block on a small cairn . Along the path leading from the Fold across Stapeley Common stand the Cow Stone [1] (a single standing stone or Menhir ) and the Stapeley Hill Ring Cairn [2] [3] . The standing stone circle is also a place players can visit in Assassin's Creed Valhalla , launched 2020. The game is set in 873 A.D. where it is referred to as Mycel Fold. The circle features on
567-544: Is also referred to in the same play (Act II, scene ii). There is a tradition that the Stanley monuments in St Bartholomew's Church, Tong are the work of Shakespeare. William Wycherley was born at Clive near Shrewsbury, although his birthplace has been said to be Trench Farm to the north near Wem later the birthplace of another writer, John Ireland , who was said to have been adopted by Wycherley's widow following
630-473: Is believed the area of Shrewsbury was settled in the 5th century by refugees from the nearby Roman City of Viroconium Cornoviorum , most physical evidence dates from the 7th century. Oswestry saw conflict in the early mediaeval period and is reputed to be the place of death of Oswald of Northumbria in 641 or 642 CE. Oswald was later regarded as a saint, with Bede saying that the spot where he died came to be associated with miracles , and people took dirt from
693-520: Is located, or Whittington Castle and linked to the Holy Grail since the 13th century. Old Oswestry has been identified as a possible home of Guinevere. Ludlow Castle site features heavily in the folk-story of Fulk FitzWarin , outlawed Lord of Whittington, Shropshire and a possible inspiration for the Robin Hood legend. Parts of Shropshire are inside the ancient Forest of Arden , which
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#1732766221960756-473: Is only a collapse of stones. When the last stone was uprooted in 1870, charcoal and bones were seen in its hole. The circle is 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Bishop's Castle , 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Corndon Hill over the Welsh border in the small village of White Grit , and within a few miles of the Late Neolithic / Early Bronze Age picrite stone axe factory of Cwm-Mawr . To the south-east
819-618: Is partially set in the Stiperstones area of South Shropshire . The early 20th century novelist and poet Mary Webb was born in Shropshire and lived most of her life there, and all her novels are set there, most notably Precious Bane , with its powerful evocation of the Shropshire countryside. A school in Pontesbury bears her name. Shropshire is widely believed to have been an influence for J. R. R. Tolkien 's landscape of
882-412: Is that “This circle was the site of vandalism by a local farmer in the summer of 1995 when several stones were uprooted by a mechanical digger. The stones were promptly righted and "planted" again and the culprit punished. Ongoing unsympathetic use by both local youth and townie pagans, such as the creation of numerous fire pits and the leaving of litter and broken glass after the festivals, does nothing for
945-457: Is written in a local dialect. The only copy of the ancient poem 'Life and Death' was also found in Shropshire. In this period the county was also associated in divers places and ways with Arthurian legends, for instance at Hawkstone, where there is a legend that one of the caves of Hawkstone Park was the burial ground of King Arthur , and the Arthurian story of the giants Tarquin and Tarquinus
1008-695: The Council of Wales and the Marches , which administered justice in Wales and Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. During the English Civil War Shropshire was Royalist , and Charles II fled through the county—famously hiding in an oak tree —after his final defeat at the Battle of Worcester . The area around Coalbrookdale is regarded as one of the birthplaces of
1071-636: The Courts Act 1971 which abolished the quarter sessions and assizes . Sheriffs continued to be appointed for each county despite the loss of the judicial functions. Certain towns and cities were counties corporate appointing their own sheriffs. The counties corporate were all included in a wider county for lieutenancy purposes, except the City of London which had its own lieutenants. The geographical counties were relatively stable between 1889 and 1965. There were occasional boundary changes, notably following
1134-660: The Diocese of Hereford and that of Coventry and Lichfield . Some parishes in the north-west of the county in later times fell under the Diocese of St. Asaph until the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920, when they were ceded to the Lichfield diocese. The county was a central part of the Welsh Marches during the medieval period and was often embroiled in the power struggles between powerful Marcher Lords ,
1197-579: The Earls of March and successive monarchs. From 1457, King Henry VI created for his son, Prince Edward , a Council to rule Wales and the Marches, Cheshire , and Cornwall , which became the Council of the Marches. Shropshire was governed via this council for several centuries. According to historian John Davies , at its peak under Sir Henry Sidney and for a period thereafter the Council: represented
1260-653: The Industrial Revolution and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Evidence of Neolithic occupation of a religious form dating back before 2,000 BC, was discovered in 2017 in the grounds of a church, the medieval Church of the Holy Fathers in Sutton , Shrewsbury, making it Britain's oldest place of worship. The Shropshire bulla ("bulla" is Medieval Latin for "a round seal", Classical Latin for "bubble, blob", plural bullae), also known as
1323-577: The Lieutenancies Act 1997 . When Herefordshire, Rutland and Worcestershire were re-established as local government counties in 1997 and 1998 no amendment was made to the 1997 Act regarding them, allowing them to also serve as their own lieutenancy areas. The lieutenancy counties have not changed in area since 1998, although the definitions of which local government counties are included in each lieutenancy have been amended to reflect new unitary authorities being created since 1997. In legislation
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#17327662219601386-691: The Local Government Act 1894 which said that parishes and districts were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries. After that most boundary changes were primarily to accommodate urban areas which were growing across county boundaries, such as when Caversham was transferred from Oxfordshire to Berkshire as a result of being absorbed into the County Borough of Reading in 1911. The lieutenancies and judicial / shrieval counties were defined as groups of administrative counties and county boroughs, and so were automatically adjusted if
1449-688: The Shropshire bulla pendant. The hillfort at Old Oswestry dates from the Iron Age , and the remains of the city of Viroconium Cornoviorum date from the Roman period. During the Anglo-Saxon era the area was part of Mercia . During the High Middle Ages the county was part of the Welsh Marches , the border region between Wales and England; from 1472 to 1689 Ludlow was the seat of
1512-528: The abolitionist Northern United States, and "Black Acre Farm" being the slaveholding Southern United States. The angel Aziraphale , a principal character in Good Omens , was credited with designing Shropshire by Terry Pratchett . In the novel Howards End , Mr. Wilcox's daughter gets married in Shropshire. Part of the novel is set near Clun . Shropshire was the native county and rural seat of power of Sir Rowland Hill , who coordinated and published
1575-445: The militia , overseen by a sheriff . From Tudor times onwards a lord-lieutenant was appointed to oversee the militia, taking some of the sheriff's functions. Certain towns and cities were counties corporate , which gave them the right to appoint their own sheriffs and hold their own courts. Whilst in theory the counties corporate could have had separate lieutenants appointed for them, in practice all of them except London shared
1638-656: The 1560 Geneva Bible . This important Bible was the senior Bible of English Protestantism for the early decades of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement . Prior to the Reformation , there are accounts of major festivals in the county. The "first flowerings of English drama" in the Tudor period are considered to be in the town, according to the 18th century Poet laureate and scholar Thomas Warton . Whitsuntide and mystery plays were performed in
1701-662: The City of London, which has two sheriffs ). The Lieutenancies Act 1997 defines counties for the purposes of lieutenancies in terms of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties (created by the Local Government Act 1972 , as amended) as well as Greater London and the Isles of Scilly (which lie outside the 1972 Act's system). Although the term is not used in the act, these counties are sometimes known as "ceremonial counties". The counties are defined in Schedule 1, paragraphs 2–5 as amended (in 2009, 2019 and 2023). Generally, each time
1764-738: The Shire in The Lord of the Rings . Specifically, the Wrekin (as The Lonely Mountain) and Ellesmere (as Laketown) are said to have inspired the English fantasy writer. In Susanna Clarke 's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), Jonathan Strange is from the county, and some parts of the book are set there. Another fictional character from Shropshire is Mr Grindley, from Charles Dickens ' Bleak House . P. G. Wodehouse 's fictional Blandings Castle ,
1827-468: The Shropshire sun pendant, is a Late Bronze Age gold pendant found by a metal detectorist in 2018 in Shropshire. At Mitchel's Fold there is a Bronze Age stone circle set in dramatic moorland on Stapeley Hill . The area was once part of the lands of the Cornovii , which consisted of the modern day counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, north Staffordshire, north Herefordshire, and eastern parts of Powys. This
1890-526: The ancestral home of Lord Emsworth , is located in Shropshire. Also from Shropshire is Psmith , a fictional character in a series of Wodehouse's novels. In Oscar Wilde 's The Importance of Being Earnest , Algernon attempts to trick Jack into revealing the location of his country home by inferring he resides in Shropshire. The 1856 plantation literature novel White Acre vs. Black Acre by William M. Burwell features two Shropshire farms acting as an allegory for American slavery – "White Acre Farm" being
1953-469: The areas to which high sheriffs are appointed. High sheriffs are the monarch's judicial representative in an area. The ceremonial counties are defined in the Lieutenancies Act 1997 , and the shrieval counties in the Sheriffs Act 1887 . Both are defined as groups of local government counties. The historic counties of England were originally used as areas for administering justice and organising
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2016-431: The atmosphere of this site.” In the beginning there may have been some thirty stone pillars. The survivors that still stand range in height from 10ins to 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), and stand in an ellipse 89 ft (27 m) NW-SE by 82 ft (25 m) The tallest is at the south-east end of the major axis, standing, perhaps by coincidence or design, close to the line of the southern moonrise. This pillar and
2079-456: The boundaries of those administrative areas changed. There were two exceptions to this rule (one only briefly). The county borough of Great Yarmouth straddled Norfolk and Suffolk for judicial and lieutenancy purposes until 1891 when it was placed entirely in Norfolk for those purposes. The county borough of Stockport straddled Cheshire and Lancashire for judicial and lieutenancy purposes - it
2142-488: The ceremonial counties have not changed since 1998. These are the 48 counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies in England, as currently defined: After the creation of county councils in 1889, there were counties for judicial and shrieval purposes, counties for lieutenancy purposes, and administrative counties and county boroughs for the purposes of local government. The 1888 Act used the term 'entire county' to refer to
2205-535: The county comprises two unitary authority areas: Shropshire , and Telford and Wrekin . Shropshire is generally flat in the north and hilly in the south. The Shropshire Hills AONB covers about a quarter of the county, including the Wrekin , Clee Hills , Stiperstones , the Long Mynd , and Wenlock Edge . Part of the Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve , which extends into Wales, occupies
2268-482: The county councils. In counties where the quarter sessions had been held separately for different parts of the county, such as the Parts of Lincolnshire , each part was given its own county council. The area administered by a county council was called an administrative county . As such, some of the judicial or lieutenancy counties comprised several administrative counties and county boroughs. The Ordnance Survey adopted
2331-842: The county. Shropshire was the original seat of prominence of the Cotton family who held the Cotton Library before it was taken to found the British Library. Shrewsbury Abbey features in The Cadfael Chronicles ; Brother Cadfael is a member of the community at the Abbey. The poet A. E. Housman used Shropshire as the setting for many of the poems in his first book, A Shropshire Lad . Moreover, many of Malcolm Saville 's children's books are set in Shropshire. Additionally, D. H. Lawrence 's novella, St. Mawr ,
2394-500: The creation of the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London and of the Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdon and Peterborough . Mitchell%27s Fold Mitchell's Fold (sometimes called Medgel's Fold or Madges Pinfold ) is a Bronze Age stone circle in southwest Shropshire , located near the small village of White Grit on dry heathland at the southwest end of Stapeley Hill in the civil parish of Chirbury with Brompton , at
2457-543: The death of Ireland's parents. The playwright George Farquhar 's 1706 play The Recruiting Officer is set in Shrewsbury. The "father of English ballet", as well as the originator of pantomime, John Weaver , developed his art in Shrewsbury. A second generation dancing master in the town, he founded English ballet, founded pantomime, and wrote on the philosophy, theology, statecraft and biology embedded in his era's understating of dance. Later in life he came to publish on
2520-726: The early tenth century, the relics of St Alkmund were translated to Whitchurch, this was also probably the work of Æthelflæd. There is evidence to show that by the beginning of the 900s, Shrewsbury was home to a mint . Archaeological excavations at the site of Shrewsbury castle in 2019 have indicated that the castle itself may have been a fortified site in the time of the Saxons. After the Norman conquest in 1066, major estates in Shropshire were granted to Normans, including Roger de Montgomerie and later his son Robert de Bellême , who ordered significant constructions, particularly in Shrewsbury,
2583-627: The events of the Battle of Wem . Prince Rupert established his headquarters in the town on 18 February 1644, being welcomed by Shrewsbury's aldermen. Much Wenlock was the birthplace of the modern Olympic movement. In the High Medieval period the Shropshire area influenced important poetry: the poet William Langland , writer of Piers Plowman , was born in Cleobury Mortimer , and the 14th-century alliterative poem St Erkenwald
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2646-654: The founding years of Shrewsbury School under Thomas Ashton ; they attracted the attention of Queen Elizabeth I . Later this was expressed in the many arbours built in Shrewsbury for that town's particular tradition of pageantry and performance. Shakespeare memorialised the Battle of Shrewsbury in Henry IV, Part 1 , in Acts IV (Scenes and 3) and V (Scenes 1-5). The arrest of Buckingham referred to in Richard III ( Act IV, scene iv) happened near Wem. Ludlow castle
2709-432: The group of administrative counties and county boroughs created within each judicial county. The Ordnance Survey used the term 'geographical county' to refer to this wider definition of the county. Yorkshire had three lieutenancies, one for each riding, but was a single judicial county with one sheriff, and was counted as one geographical county by Ordnance Survey. The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972 under
2772-435: The judicial counties. The exception was Yorkshire, which was one judicial county, having a single Sheriff of Yorkshire , but from 1660 onwards each of Yorkshire's three ridings had its own lieutenant. In 1889 elected county councils were established under the Local Government Act 1888 , taking over the administrative functions of the quarter sessions . Certain towns and cities were made county boroughs , independent from
2835-788: The largest settlements in Britain. After the Roman occupation of Britain ended in the 5th century, the Shropshire area was in the eastern part of the Welsh Kingdom of Powys ; known in Welsh poetry as the Paradise of Powys . As 'Caer Guricon' it is a possible Shrewsbury was the site of the seat of the Kingdom of Powys in the Early Middle Ages. This would date establishment of the town to the 500s CE under Brochwel Ysgithrog . It
2898-482: The lieutenancy areas are described as 'counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'; the informal term 'ceremonial county' has come into usage for such areas, appearing in parliamentary debates as early as 1996. The shrieval counties are defined by the Sheriffs Act 1887 as amended, in a similar way to the lieutenancies defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997. Each has a high sheriff appointed (except
2961-403: The lieutenants were appointed to the new versions of the counties. The counties of Avon , Cleveland and Humberside , each of which had only been created in 1974, were all abolished in 1996. They were divided into unitary authorities ; legally these are also non-metropolitan counties. As part of these reforms, it was decided to define counties for the purposes of lieutenancy differently from
3024-533: The local government counties in some cases, effectively reverting to the pre-1974 arrangements for lieutenancies. Whereas the lieutenancies had been defined slightly differently from the shrieval counties prior to 1974, it was decided in 1996 that the high sheriffs and lieutenants should be appointed to the same areas. Regulations amending the Sheriffs Act 1887 and specifying the areas for the appointment of lieutenants were accordingly brought in with effect from 1 April 1996. The regulations were then consolidated into
3087-455: The low-lying north west of the county. The county's major river is the Severn , which enters from the west and forms a wide, flat valley before exiting into Worcestershire south of Bridgnorth. The village of Edgmond , near Newport , is the location of the lowest recorded temperature in England and Wales. There is evidence of Neolithic and Bronze Age human occupation in Shropshire, including
3150-428: The main functions of the counties were the administrative functions of local government. Despite the loss of their functions, sheriffs continued to be appointed to the former judicial counties up until 1974. In 1974, administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished, and a new system of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties was introduced instead. Sheriffs were renamed 'high sheriffs' and both they and
3213-421: The purposes of the lieutenancies , are areas of England to which lord-lieutenants are appointed. They are one of the two main legal definitions of the counties of England in modern usage, the other being the counties for the purposes of local government legislation. A lord-lieutenant is the monarch 's representative in an area. Shrieval counties have the same boundaries and serve a similar purpose, being
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#17327662219603276-586: The ring but also through it as though this 'prehistoric' megalithic ring might postdate the Middle Ages!" The only other known stone circle in Shropshire is the Hoarstones , 1½ miles northeast of the Fold. Nearby but just outside Shropshire are the Whetstones , half a mile south of the Fold. So this is a concentrated area of activity. Nearly all the latter's stones were blown up in the 1860s; now there
3339-419: The site, which led to a hole being dug as deep as a man's height. King Offa of Mercia annexed the entirety of Shropshire over the course of the 8th century from Powys, with Shrewsbury captured in 778, with two dykes built to defend, or at least demarcate it from the Welsh. King Offa converted the palace of the rulers of Powys into his first church, dedicated to St Chad (a foundation that still survives in
3402-458: The subject of dance, which he located in a wider understanding of his culture as representing a component of Ptolemaic harmony and an earnest part of the statecraft of his time. The first known architectural project of Inigo Jones is the Cotton monument in the Church of St Chad, Norton-in-Hales . There are a number of important buildings in the county. The world's first iron-framed building
3465-580: The term 'geographical county' to describe the widest definition of the county. In most cases this was the lieutenancy county; the exceptions were Yorkshire, where the judicial county was larger on account of it being split into its three ridings for lieutenancy purposes, and the County of London where the administrative county was larger on account of the City of London and the rest of the county being separate for both judicial and lieutenancy purposes. The counties lost their judicial functions in 1972, after which
3528-516: The town and operated on that initial site for over 1000 years, moving in 1792). In later centuries, Vikings repeatedly invaded and fortresses were built at Bridgnorth (912) and Chirbury (913). In 914, Æthelflæd , Lady of the Mercians, fortified Shrewsbury, along with two other fortresses, at Scergeat (a currently unknown location) and Weardbyrig , Viking rides from the north traveling south were reaching Bridgnorth at this time (910CE). In
3591-421: The town of which he was Earl . Many defensive castles were built at this time across the county to defend against the Welsh and enable effective control of the region, including Ludlow Castle and Shrewsbury Castle . The western frontier with Wales was not finally determined until the 14th century. Also in this period, a number of religious foundations were formed, the county largely falling at this time under
3654-455: The west. The largest settlement is Telford , while Shrewsbury is the county town . The county has an area of 3,487 km (1,346 square miles) and a population of 498,073. Telford (155,570), in the east of the county, and Shrewsbury (76,782), in the centre, are the only large towns. Shropshire is otherwise rural, containing market towns such as Oswestry (15,613), Bridgnorth (12,212) and Newport (11,387). For local government purposes
3717-731: Was a tribal Celtic Iron Age kingdom. Their capital in pre- Roman times was probably a hill fort on the Wrekin . There is an important Iron Age Hill fort at Old Oswestry earthworks, this has been linked to where King Arthur’s Guinevere was born and called "the Stonehenge of the Iron Age." According to tradition, Caracticus made his last stand against the Romans in Shropshire. Ptolemy 's 2nd century Geography names one of their towns as being Viroconium Cornoviorum ( Wroxeter ), which became their capital under Roman rule and one of
3780-642: Was built in Shrewsbury at the Flaxmill Maltings : the techniques pioneered in that building were necessary preconditions for skyscrapers . Nash and Repton were active at Attingham Park . A rare Anglo-Saxon hall, which was a high status building from the Anglo Saxon period, and possibly a feasting hall or palace, was excavated at nearby Attingham in 2018; the dating window is between 400 AD and 1066. Ceremonial counties of England Ceremonial counties , formally known as counties for
3843-575: Was placed entirely in Lancashire for judicial purposes in 1956 but continued to straddle the two counties for lieutenancy purposes until 1974. More significant changes to the geographical counties were made in 1965 with the creation of Greater London and of Huntingdon and Peterborough , which resulted in the abolition of the offices of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex , Lord Lieutenant of the County of London , and Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire and
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#17327662219603906-467: Was the altar.'" but that the "probability of a trilithon , otherwise unique to Stonehenge , at Mitchell's Fold, like an identical claim for Kerzerho in Brittany , should be regarded as rumour rather than reality." As with most sites of this type, its true history is unknown. However, there is a traditional folkstory that a giant whose marvellous cow gave unlimited amounts of milk used the circle until
3969-419: Was the part if the English Midlands , that in antiquity and into the Early Modern Period was bounded by the Roman roads including to the North by the Watling Street and to the west by Wales. This forest was the Setting of Shakespeare's As You Like It , and that play is acknowledged to potentially be a cultural monument to Sir Rowland Hill , a prominent Tudor statesman and publisher of the Geneva Bible from
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